1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substitute for sodium chloride (NaCl), commonly known as table salt. More particularly, this invention is directed to a sodium-free salt substitute which provides the saline, tangy taste present in the original material and is composed essentially of non-sodium citrate salts. The salt substitute of the present invention can be successfully employed as a seasoning material in food preparation and cooking and as a table seasoning condiment.
2. Discussion of the Relevant Art
Various cardiac and renal conditions particularly those associated with edema, hypertension, arterial sclerosis, and some pregnancy complications require that the patient be placed on a salt-free diet in order to avoid further damage and ameliorate conditions to the extent that dietary control can do so. The deleterious action of table salt is due primarily to the sodium content thereof. Reduction or elimination of dietary sodium derived from table salt can ameliorate or eliminate many of the harmful conditions noted. However, elimination of table salt robs the diet of a good deal of palatability. Because of this, many cardiac and renal disease patients continue to use table salts even though it should be avoided. As a result, the patient may experience continued or further damage or, at the very least fail to obtain the alleviation of the condition under treatment. Furthermore, the tendency of dietary sodium in the diet to cause an accumulation and retention of fluids with corresponding increase in the weight of body tissues has emphasized the importance of reducing sodium intake in various weight loss diets.
Salt hunger, or the desire for salt, appears to be a primary instinct in humans which is shared by many animals. It is an important part of the taste sense or taste patterns for most people. Consequently, food without salt is found to be substantially tasteless, flat and unpalatable. Thus, the necessity for adhering to a low-salt or saltless diet imposes a very genuine hardship on persons suffering from such medical conditions. In addition to the decreased enjoyment which is derived from these unseasoned foods, additional impairment of health may be experienced because the unpalatable food is not as easily as ingested as that which is readily enjoyed. Many attempts have been made to provide salty tasting compositions as a substitute for table salt. To this end, potassium chloride, ammonium chloride and similar compounds have been suggested. However, the use of these chlorides alone or in combination does not provide the desired taste or seasoning effect of sodium chloride. Potassium chloride has a strong aftertaste which is usually characterized as bitter by most people. Ammonium chloride also has a bitter after taste and, when ingested, can disturb that acidized and base balance in the blood and produce undesirable side effects. Furthermore, ammonium chloride decomposes at cooking and baking temperatures thereby changing the pH value of the surrounding material affecting the taste and other properties of any cooked foods which contain it.
Because of this, a variety of sodium-free and low-sodium compositions have been proposed which contain a variety of constituents added in an attempt to mimic the flavor of sodium chloride.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,471,144 to Davy, a sodium-free preparation containing a mixture of potassium chloride and ammonium chloride as the primary saline constituent is disclosed. The Davy composition includes small amounts of calcium and magnesium cations as well as trace amounts of citrate and formate anions added to "smooth out" the bitter taste imparted by potassium and ammonium chlorides. The amount of citrate ions employed in the Davy composition is approximately 1% of the total ingredients.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,566 to Munch discloses a sodium-free salt substitute which contains a major portion of potassium chloride and minor amounts of gluconate, citrate and ascorbate ions employed to mask the bitter after-taste inherent with the use of the potassium chloride. Because sodium chloride has an inherently "sweet" element which enhances its ultimate saline taste, the Munch reference also recommends the use of trace amounts of an artificial sweetener such as calcium cyclamate or saccharine to mimic this sweet taste.
Various other materials have been employed to mask the bitter after-taste inherent in the use of potassium chloride. U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,494 to Roan discloses a sodium-free salt substitute which includes from about 0.1% to about 2% by weight of a hydrolyzed collagenous animal protein employed as the sole masking agent in a potassium chloride-based salt substitute.
Various salt substitute having reduced sodium levels have also been proposed in an attempt to overcome the inherent bitterness of chloride-based salt substitutes and to provide materials which are palatable. One such "salt substitute" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,296 to Frank et al. in which a low-sodium salt substitute comprised of 20-80% by weight of potassium chloride and 80-20% by weight of sodium chloride is discussed. Another such material is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,595 to Rood et al. in which a salt substitute is prepared which contains between about 40 to about 50% by weight sodium chloride in admixture with about 25-35% by weight potassium chloride and about 15 to about 25% of a magnesium salt such as magnesium sulphate or magnesium chloride.
Thus, it can be seen that the majority of salt substitutes having acceptable palatability contain reduced levels of sodium. Sodium free salt-substitutes exhibit undesirable qualities of bitterness which must be masked through the use of a variety of additives which fail to provide a salt substitute which effectively mimics the various perceived tastes of sodium chloride and at the very least, has a truly pleasant taste.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a salt substitute which is completely sodium-free and does not produce the bitter taste inherent in compositions which contain potassium chloride or calcium chloride as their major element. It would also be desirable to provide a salt substitute which closely imitates or approximates the complex combination of sensory taste perceptions such as salinity, sweetness, sourness and the like which occur when sodium chloride is employed. It is also desirable to provide a salt substitute which does not require the presence of complex additives to enhance palatability. Finally, it is desirable to provide a method for producing such a material.